Lunchette

09/02/2026

Welcome!

first and foremost: we are CLOSED on Labor Day! Mark your calendars so you don't get all the way here and are so disappointed you cry!

Food Stuff:

Polenta!
Yes, that polenta. It’s back! Bye bye Baked Ricotta which we love so much. Hello something else we love: We use red flint corn polenta from Front Porch Farm. It's soft and creamy but vegan, topped with roasted Jimmy Nardello peppers, cherry tomatoes, summer squash, and sunflower shoots, basil oil, aged balsamic. Perfect for this sort of fall weather.

What’s coming:
*Heirloom tomato soup coming to the cold case. Our friends at Poppy’s Farm have way too many tomatoes, as does everyone this time of year, right? So we made a zingy soup you can heat up at home. Grab a loaf of Grainsong walnut bread for the best grilled cheese sando of your life to dip into the soup: a perfect dinner!

*Your favorite salad dressing, the red curry lemongrass-lime, is returning with the shoulder season foods of delicata squash, chicories, cucumbers, squash. Served with quinoa and fried shallots. Look for this after Labor Day.

Upcoming:

You know I’m on the board of Sonoma Family Meal, if you know me at all. But did you know that I’m currently Chair? I take my position very seriously! Well, I love the organization and the board so it’s easy. Every fall we have our big gala fundraiser. It’s called Knife’s Edge, is on 10/24, and it’s just a delicious and super fun event. Guess what? Tickets just went on sale! Early bird pricing: $200. Get yours today, and join us as we celebrate the impact this org has in our community!

Because you want to see more of us, and all the wonderful things, people, places that make up our beautiful world:

Mel’s Corner:

Hey y’all, it's Mel, your local Behavioral Nutritionist (https://motivatewithmel.com/) . As school begins and busy routines return, nourishing ourselves can feel challenging. From a behavioral nutrition perspective, healthy eating is not about perfection, but about simple systems that support your mind and body.
Healthy conveniences build confidence on busy days. Choosing a thoughtfully prepared meal from Lunchette is self-care and a way to support your community. Seasonal, local, plant-based ingredients provide vibrant nourishment, prepared with love.
Think of each colorful meal as your chance to refuel, ground your mind, and nourish your soul. Creating conveniences in your routine can make wellness feel more joyful, achievable, and delicious every day. Remember to keep it local, keep it simple, keep it clean.

Recipe for you, because you're you, and we love you!

Baked Ricotta (because we won't have this until next year!)
1 (3.5lb) wheel Bellwether ricotta
1tablespoon salt
1teaspoon ground black pepper
1tablespoon herbs de Provence
1/8 cup EVOO
Directions: Mix ricotta with salt and herbs. Spread into baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil over top and bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes, rotate and bake another 10-12 minutes until golden on top. Let cool.
serve on grilled bread, atop lentils, or on your favorite salad!

We appreciate you immensely. If we don't see you before Labor Day weekend, have fun, eat well, and love hugely.

Click here for an update from Lunchette (open Mon-Fri)!

09/01/2026

Bye bye Baked Ricotta
Sad to see her go, I know
But this cooler weather calls forth something else delicious…
Front Porch Farm polenta!!!
*Topped with roasted Paul's Produce Jimmy Nardellos, KM Mushrooms Blue Oysters, Ray’s Farm summer squash, Farmer George sunflower sprouts, basil oil, aged balsamic 🤤🤤🤤
💥Starts today!!

08/29/2026

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY!!! 👇
:
As you do or do not know, Lunchette is closed weekends, which gives us a time to recharge our batteries, and an unexpected moment to focus the spotlight on others!
:
This, dear friends, is Vivian Straus. She and I bonded over our shared history of West Marin (she being of that Straus Home Ranch and Straus Family Creamery lineage while I’m of the weird culty Synanon lineage) but have developed a friendship over our good taste (ahem!) in food and its importance in our lives. Vivian, if you don’t know, is a super creative, a story teller extraordinaire, a protector of ag land, and regenerative ag. And her Straus Home Ranch is a must if you want a beautiful, historic place for your next group. Maybe get Alex(andra) Fox Food & Farm Tours to produce it?! Vivian grabs lunch and dinner from us - seen here with a salad and one of our veggie lasagnes - as she’s miles from us. We love seeing her and hope you now know a little of why!

08/25/2026

Dolly Parton was a community builder at her core, had deep care for this earth, and compassion for its people. She was a role model to all of us on how to treat each other, all people without judgement. She was also fu***ng brilliant. She will be missed. All day we’ll be playing her here at Lunchette, saddened greatly, but rejoicing and dancing too. 💔

08/24/2026

If you don’t love Highland mini cows, you’re dead to me, and to Fergus and Duncan🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

08/22/2026

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY 💥👇
:
As you may or may not know, Lunchette is CLOSED on the weekends. So! We take up space promoting other businesses in our beautiful town that make it the dynamic, sweet city that it is!
:
Meet Anaise McNaught - one of the owners of Regina Bernardini in downtown Petaluma, who pretty much cuts and colors half our town’s locks! Anaise is also the mama to our very own Amalie, who we would be empty without!! Anaise grew up here in Petaluma, and works to make it a better place for the next gen. We adore her, and Dukes and Dolls!!
:
Her go-to lunch depends on what Amalie suggests lol but often it’s the Seasonal Salad!!

08/20/2026

Welcome!

Late August, early September: This is the shoulder season, still warm during the day, but mild in the evenings, where we still get tons of summer produce like pluots, cucumbers, yellow wax beans, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes, but fall stuff is quickly headed our way. This is the very best time for heirloom tomatoes, figs, peppers, walnuts, and much much more. It's a time of real abundance, and we are so lucky to be right in the thick of it here in SoCo!

Food Stuff:

Heirloom Tomatoes. We'll be slow roasting these with onions, garlic, basil, olive oil and balsamic for a sauce you can add to pasta, or pour onto grilled bread for an easy, delicious addition to your meal. Look for this in the cold case.

Blackberries. We have our own bramble, so we source directly from the backyard. We cook them with pluots from Frog Hollow, to make a confiture for the Meyer Lemon Posset. Look for this in the coming days.

Pizza. Yes, our oven is still down. Instead we are making different focaccias: Margherita, pepperoni, roasted mushroom and parmesan. We won't have them all the time - they will sell out. We'll try to show you what we have on our Instagram story everyday (see below for that!)

Take Action:

Voting!
11/3/26 but really 10/5/26 (when ballots get mailed)

I'm writing this to urge you to re-elect Mayor Kevin McDonnell — the right person to keep working collaboratively with our city council, our City Manager, and our City Attorney.

I've thought a lot about this. What does it actually mean to be Mayor of a small city, and why does it matter?

It means having someone who genuinely wants to make our community better, more accessible, more functional, and more desirable. As an architect, Kevin is trained to see not just what a place is, but what it could be — starting from a blank canvas and building toward an idealized system, structure, and place, rather than just editing around the edges. As a former city councilmember, he's also skilled at working with others, not just leading them. He's thoughtful, measured, considerate, and collaborative — exactly what this job requires.

As a business owner and a mother of two young adults who came up through Petaluma City Schools and were active across this town, I know firsthand where our city can do better — and that these are the very priorities Kevin has been pushing and needs to keep pushing: building a reasonable crosstown connector, smartly rezoning our downtown-adjacent areas to create more density nearby (not within downtown itself), and keeping our agricultural heritage central to how we grow.

When you get your upcoming ballots, I ask you to re-elect Kevin McDonnell to continue his good work.

Thank you!

Upcoming:

8/24/26 Tellina

Stellina is hosting a storytelling culinary adventure with yours truly being one of the storytellers! Stellina will make food to accompany the tales. Tickets may be sold out - but you can always check with Katrina at the bakery. We'll be there, telling tales!

You know we have vegetarian lasagne, bolognese, and jarred soups in our cold case. In fact, I love prepared foods so much I wrote a piece for Substack (https://plateandplace.substack.com/p/when-tragedy-strikes?r=1wsmdw) on it!

Our question to you is:
Do you want to see more prepared foods? If so, what would you LOVE to see? DM us on IG and LUK (let us know)!

Yes, IG...
If you don’t already follow us on the ‘gram, it’s a great way to see images of this fine community we are part of and actively helping to make thrive, as well as new menu items that we come up with on the fly. (P.S. If you’re already in with us, and are so inclined, take pics of your meals tagging us and our location! It really helps us to connect better with you and potential new guests!)

As always, thank you for being such a magnificent part of our business!

Click here for an update from Lunchette (open Mon-Fri)!

08/19/2026

Back to the mothership for our Joely Joel - Chez Panisse will always be in our hearts for that’s where Joel was gifted a start on his culinary journey. Chez showed him how to source ethically, treat staff properly, and be unbending in the mission to do both at the same time. It’s a hard business, this restaurant stuff! So stoked to see Chez still rocking the beautiful food and wonderful experiences!! Thanks to Chef Amy and team for our perfect experience. Also thanks to Chef Seth and team at Bar Panisse for the friggin delicious oysters and drinks!!
And always thanks for our lovely table mates you know who you are 💕❤️💕

08/17/2026

Tamara Hicks Alex(andra) Fox Food & Farm Tours Naomi Crawford all in one gram!!
It may seem repetitive to say thank you sometimes but we are awash in gratitude! 💕 Alex Fox introduced us to Tamara Hicks at a Planned Parenthood fundraiser years ago and it changed our lives! Tamara runs Toluma Farms which is famed for their goats milk cheeses, one of which we use a LOT of: check out the Tomales Farmstead Creamery feta on our Chickpea Salad (I always add it to the Brunch Bowl and the Seasonal Salad!). Well, yesterday Alex treated us to the amazing inimitable Al Green at Stern Grove Festival where we dined with a bunch of other lovely people (yes you Daniel Capra 🐐) on McCalls Catering & Events delicious foods, sipping great wines and listening to great music. What a treat to have built these relationships, with these beauties, and are so blessed to have our backyard filled with fun! Thank you Alex and Tamara for the friendship, the leadership in our community, and your incredible minds!!

08/15/2026

SMALL BUSINESS LOVE!! 👇
:
We are closed weekends which means they’re the perfect time to shine a spotlight on one of the many small local businesses in our fair city of Petaluma, one of the ones that make it this rich tapestry that it is.
:
This Jennifer Connor, the beautiful artist / craftsperson behind Pennyroyal Design Studio bags (she’s carrying the Phoebe!) and store. In her store you can find the loveliest cultivation of fine goods, and her: the sharpest, coolest woman we know. Jen: thank you for being in this crazy thing with us, for making it cooler, prettier, and just better. 💕🙌 Y’all - go visit her!